


Captain America's Shield

by DoctorMerlinReid



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Captain America's Shield, Humor, Slice of Life, Well - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-23 09:54:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23009641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorMerlinReid/pseuds/DoctorMerlinReid
Summary: Five times the Avengers see Steve use the shield for something ridiculous plus one time the world sees Steve use it for what it was made for.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28





	1. Chapter 1

Steve Rogers, more commonly known as Captain America, stood glumly in the rain. After planning this weekend hike in the woods for over a week in advance, checking the weather every day, he naturally assumed that it wasn't going to rain today. The forecast had said for the last _ten days_ , including today that it was _not_ going to rain today. Which was why he was more than a little miffed as he stood there. In the rain. That wasn't supposed to be happening.

Rogers gave a heartfelt sigh and started trudging his way back down the mountain. There was no way he was going to be able to continue with his original plans with the ground completely soaked through. Rogers sighed again. The world hated him. Then he perked up a little as a thought hit him; maybe he could go see Peggy again. Her visits normally filled him with a sense of euphoria and nostalgia. He still loved her even though he knew she had found another man and had been happily married to him.

His thoughts took a darker turn as the days that he introduced himself several times an hour came unbidden to his mind. Steve shook his head. All of this rain was getting him down. He decided he would shake himself out of his mood by running down the mountain. At least he could get some sort of work out from this failed weekend adventure.

So he ran. The farther he went, the harder it rained, and the harder it got to see. Soon Captain America had to stop because he couldn't see further than three feet in any direction and realized that he was hopelessly lost. His sigh held a note of frustration this time as he wondered what he could do to block this accursed rain at least enough so it wasn't dripping into his eyes while he tried to see. He thought quickly to himself. There wasn't anything in his camping bag that would even serve remotely as an umbrella (he didn't think to pack one because _it wasn't supposed to rain_ ).

He closed his eyes, thinking harder, but he kept getting distracted by the metallic pinging noise of the multitudes of rain drops striking his shield. Captain Rogers had started taking it most everywhere with him as long as there weren't that many people around. He froze as an idea hit him. Maybe…

Six hours later he came out into the parking lot at the base of the mountain, significantly drier. Held over his head and blocking the rain's passage was his infamous Captain America shield. The weapon that stopped Thor's hammer, that helped to rid the world of the god Loki and the monster Red Skull, that had fought in countless battles and won everyone… was now being used as an umbrella. Well, at least the other Avengers weren't seeing this. At that moment, he heard the distinct sound of a camera locking the memory into an image and turned to see a teenager pulling his phone down and texting God only knows who. Captain America sighed again and hopped on his motorcycle, guiltily putting up a pole on his motorcycle and lashing his shield to it to form another makeshift umbrella. His cheeks burned red as he heard the teen take another picture and probably posting it on that thing that kids use. He thought it was Facebook maybe? Or maybe it was Instagram? Either way, he knew he was going to get majorly laughed at when he got back to New York. And knowing Stark, the picture was probably going to keep cropping up from time to time.

(That thought was confirmed when Steve finally made it back to the Avengers Tower to find Stark smirking at him, a phone with Steve's sad shield-umbrella glaring out at him. Steve just sighed and walked to his floor, ignoring the cackling behind him.)


	2. Chapter 2

Steve whistled a small tune to himself as he walked down the pathway. It was actually a rather nice day and he didn't have anywhere pressing to be. He might have an armful of groceries, but they weren't particularly heavy, so it didn't bother him to take the slow, scenic walk back to his apartment.

His whistling eventually settled into light humming as he came into a more populated area. He knew that whistling could get kind of annoying to other people, especially when they had super hearing like he did. Then it got really annoying. And, nowadays, there was really no way to tell if someone was a mutant with super hearing or something similar. Not that Steve had anything against mutants. And he certainly didn't think that they should identify themselves to people or anything. It was just kind of strange to think that anyone on this street could secretly have powers.

Sunlight filtered through the trees of Central Park and Steve closed his eyes to take in the moment. He waved cheerfully at the doddering old lady who was waving so cheerfully that he was surprised she didn't break anything. She might have been just being sweet when she waved at him, or – more likely – she saw the shield on his back and was waving at what she thought to be a hero.

Steve still did his best to carry around his shield wherever he went because there was no telling when something could happen where he'd need it fast. Still, it was slightly irritating that people freaked out at seeing him around with the shield out. He wondered if Stark would be willing to try to make a collapsible one that he could have instead, so he wouldn't have to go grocery shopping so early in the morning to lessen the number of people who could potentially recognize him.

Then again, that was another sometimes-good thing about New York City: people don't often pay attention to their surroundings, so a lot of the time he could walk around in a full Captain America suit and people wouldn't even notice. That wasn't such a good thing during, say, an alien attack, but it was nice for lessened recognizability.

Steve came back into the present when he heard squealing tires and someone shouting something. Exclaiming softly in surprise, Steve jerked backwards and out of the way of the bike that was barreling towards him. The kid on the bike yelled out a quick sorry before speeding back off towards where he had been going. He must have been late or something.

Steve didn't get a chance to muse on the kid's life any further before he heard an ominous ripping sound. Eyes widening, Steve couldn't do a single thing as the paper bag his groceries were in ripped down the middle of the bottom, promptly dropping all of his food onto the ground.

For a long moment, Steve just stared at the collection of groceries on the ground. There were a bunch of small things in there, little odds and ends that he needed for recipes in the coming week. Luckily, none of them were breakable things that would be irreparably damaged by their fall to the ground, but he was still stuck. There were too many groceries that were too small. He couldn't just gather them in his arms and go. He wouldn't make it ten feet before he dropped everything.

There wasn't even anything he could use nearby to collect the groceries in.

Sighing, Steve rubbed a frustrated hand over his face. He'd been having such a good morning too. This was truly unfortunate.

At least, it was unfortunate until an idea came to him. Then again, that idea wasn't much better than just abandoning his groceries. No, Steve decided. He was not going to put his groceries on his shield and walk home like that. The shield-as-an-umbrella incident was still cropping up in conversations at the Avengers Tower and Steve did not approve.

Then again, he really didn't want to just leave his groceries and calling for help to get them home would probably be even more embarrassing. Besides, there were barely any people around this early in the morning, just as he'd been musing all morning. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe it would be completely fine if he just grabbed the items, stuck them on his shield and rushed home. He could always come back out later to enjoy the sunny day. Yeah, that's what he would do. It'd be great. No one would see and it would be fine.

Steve bent over and started quickly and efficiently scooping his groceries onto his shield. He glanced around him carefully and straightened, bringing the make-shift carrier with him. He started jogging down the path, shield held carefully horizontal in front of him. A smile started to spread over his face as he realized that no one was recognizing him and he was fine. This wasn't as bad as he'd originally thought it would be.

Of course, he didn't know that Clint was watching him from a nearby building and laughing so hard he could barely breath.


	3. Chapter 3

Steve smiled happily down at the children in front of him. Ever since the Avengers had gotten Nelson and Murdock to represent them, they had been doing more PR activities. Despite being blind and just a civilian, Matt Murdock was exceptionally vicious and had no qualms about telling someone to get off their butts and do something.

This was one of those things that Murdock had told Steve to get off his butt and do, so he'd done it. He definitely wasn't regretting it.

There was a huge group of kids from a Brooklyn orphanage who were taking a field trip to a huge hill that was perfect for sledding. The hill was always covered in soft, plush snow in the winter, with nothing but flat land surrounding it, so there was no worry about running into fences or trees or running out into the road.

Steve remembered playing on this hill as a kid. He and Bucky had played King of Mountain there when they were younger. Well, Bucky had played, and Steve had just stayed behind Bucky, occasionally shoving someone else off who'd gotten distracted by Bucky's victorious shouts. He remembered drinking hot cider with Bucky when Bucky came back from sledding on it. Steve had always been too sickly as a child to really play on the hill during the winter, instead living vicariously through Bucky's words on the subject and the pictures he'd draw of the hill and the kids flying off it.

Now, it was decades in the future and he was watching other kids who came from the same kind of sad past that he came from playing around in the snow of his home town on a hill he'd played on. It was nostalgic in a surprisingly good way. Nostalgic in a way he hadn't felt before, something bitter tinging the edges of his mind, but the bitterness taken over by overwhelming pride in the world he lived in today.

There were kids here today who would have been far too sickly to ever play out in the snow when Steve was a kid, but here they were, laughing and following their other friends. One of the workers at the orphanage had fondly told Steve about little Billy, who'd kicked his cancer almost a year ago and was now sledding down the hill and whooping loudly. Sure, he had to stop sledding for a little bit afterwards to get his breath back, but back in Steve's day, he wouldn't have made it past the cancer.

Beaming, Steve walked over to a group of kids who were arguing about who would get out of the huge sled and stay behind to push it. One little girl turned to face him, smile lighting up her thin face, but Steve put a finger to his lips, warning her to be quiet. She gave him an exaggerated nod, staring curiously at what he was doing.

Counting down on his fingers, he reached zero and then _shoved_ the sled over the edge of the hill with all his strength. The kids screamed, some with joy and some with legitimate fear. The little girl who'd seen him coming was laughing all the way down the hillside, laughing about how awesome Captain America was. Steve felt something warm curl in his chest.

Then there were a bunch of little kids tugging at the loops and pockets of his suit, pulling him this way and that, asking him to push their sleds like he pushed the other kids' sled. He laughed and followed each group obligingly, pushing sled after sled down the mountain and laughing as the children screaming in happiness.

About an hour later, one bright-eyed little boy tugged on Steve's hand, pulling it until Steve turned to him with a smile. Steve recognized the boy at the mute member of the orphanage and made sure to sign a 'hello' to the boy. The boy grinned and signed back, 'You should go sledding too.' Steve shook his head with a sad smile and told the boy that he didn't have a sled.

But the kids were insistent now, determined that Steve join them on a sled ride, but he genuinely didn't have a sled and wasn't entirely trusting of how the sleds the little kids had would handle his weight. He tried to explain this to the kids, but they didn't understand. One of them looked close to tears.

Desperately, Steve tried to find something he could use as a sled. Something, _anything_ that he thought could hold his weight. Whoa, wait a second. He had an idea!

Motioning that the kids should move back a little bit, Steve pulled out his shield and swung it around. Flipping it in the air (for the sole purpose of entertaining the kids), Steve caught it and settled it under him. Smiling at the cheering kids, he motioned to the back of his sled. Who was going to push him?

What followed was more vicious than any King of the Mountain game Steve had ever participated in. Apparently, the little kids really wanted to push Steve down the hill. He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

Then, all of a sudden, there were about eight kids crawling onto his lap and wrapping themselves around his neck and squeezing onto the shield with him.

And then one of the orphanage workers was shoving the make-shift sled full of people down the hill and Steve was honestly just trying to keep himself and the kids alive. It was definitely fun, and he totally enjoyed it, but the struggle of trying to keep all the kids from being sent flying off into the snow was quite the challenge.

He managed it, though, and they were all laughing when they reached the bottom of the hill, breathless and covered in snow and settling onto the ground in inelegant heaps.

Steve was just brushing the snow out of one of the boys' hair when he saw Natasha smirking at him from her car, Clint crowing with laughter next to her. Fantastic.


	4. Chapter 4

Steve had never really expected to be snowed in. Sure, there were a lot of people who had that problem, but Steve lived on the top floor of an apartment building. There were fire escapes he could go down if the door was snowed shut. If he wasn't staying at his apartment, he was at the Avenger's Tower and he swore that Stark put something in the sidewalk that melted snow because there was always a clear path in the sidewalk only in front of the Tower. It was weird. Stark denied everything.

So, out of the two places that Steve lived, there wasn't anywhere that was a serious problem. Being snowed in was never a concern. The thought never even occurred to him.

That was why he unconcernedly opened the door of the little gym he worked out in after the blizzard warning had passed. It had been almost two days and he was just thankful that no one else was stuck in there with him, that he'd had food and clothes stocked in the gym, and that there were plenty of books and workout materials for him to keep himself occupied.

It wasn't the most fun he'd had, but it wasn't that concerning. What was more concerning, however, was the distress signal that went up as soon as the blizzard passed. Apparently, any of the Avengers that had been able to (meaning Stark with his suit, Rhodey with _his_ suit, and Hulk) had been working rescue operations. With the blizzard gone, the rest of the Avengers were expected to join in.

That was what led to Steve unconcernedly opening the door of the little gym he worked out in. And coming face to face with a pile of snow.

That wasn't good.

A check at the back door revealed the exact same thing. There was no way to access the roof from the inside. He was trapped inside the building. His communicator beeped before Stark's voice filled the silence of the room, " _Hey, Capsicle, I know you probably don't like cold after your history with ice, but it would be nice to have someone who could lift cars out here. That would be nice. Anytime now._ "

Hesitating, Steve reached up to his ear, responding, "I'm trapped at the moment. I'm completely snowed into this building."

" _Seriously?_ " Natasha groaned, panting in exertion.

" _I'm calling bull!_ " Clint yelled, frustrated and tired.

Steve frantically glanced around him. His teammates needed him out there and he wasn't delivering at all. They needed a heavy lifter and someone who had done rescue before. They needed Captain America. But he was trapped, completely. There would be no way to get out until someone with the heavy duty machines came and got the snow out of the way.

Frustrated, Steve tried to find something he could use to disrupt the torrent of snow standing firm at his doorway. Didn't he have a shovel in here? Any sort of large, firm material he could use to scoop stuff out of the way? Anything?

A sight caught his eye. His shield was there, lying innocently against the wall. His shield! That was perfect! That would be a little unwieldy, but it would easily get the job down.

Steve reached over and grabbed the shield before hesitating slightly. Did he really want to do this? He got teased enough for literally any other thing that he used the shield for. Was this really worth it? Yes, yes of course it was.

People were in danger! People needed his help and he couldn't leave them alone because he was embarrassed. No one was even going to see him! He could always tell his teammates a little white lie about how he got out of the snowed-in building. It wouldn't really hurt all that much for one little lie. It was to save people!

Determined, Steve gripped the handle of the shield and started levering it against the snow, working to cave his way through the soft white material. Almost done. Almost there.

The final scoop left him blinking at the bright sunlight glinting off of Thor's armor. No. No way.

Thor grinned down at Steve, "I had thought to come rescue you so we may rescue others, but it appears that your own desire to avenge others led you to freedom! I am impressed, Captain. Using the shield that the father of Stark made for you." Thor was definitely mocking him, eyes glinting with mischief.

"I hate you. I hate this." Steve bemoaned, pressing his head against the side of the door. Thor just laughed and flew off, leaving him in the snow.


	5. Chapter 5

Steve rolled his neck and sighed. He was _exhausted_. He hadn't expected that event to drag on for so long. He also hadn't expected to be standing at the side of the room, looking, well soldiery for almost six hours. As much as he appreciated Nelson and Murdock's PR moves and the wonders they were doing for the Avenger image, Steve wasn't so sure about this particular event.

What did a convention about science for teenagers even have to do with Steve anyways? Why weren't Stark or Banner out there, standing by the military weaponry section? Sure, neither of them were into military weapons (anymore) and sure, both of them had several talks, Q&A sessions, and panels to lead, but still. Steve didn't know anything about science! Well, he had a pretty good understanding of the science of his time and even somewhat of a science behind his own transformation and Tesseract technology, but that wasn't modern day stuff. That really, really wasn't modern day stuff as he had come to realize.

So, Steve had stood, awkward and confused, for six hours next to a booth about military science. Sometimes the scientists had come over and asked increasingly difficult questions about his physiology. Other times, the teens would come over and ask increasingly difficult questions about his physiology. The best times were when teenagers would come over and talk to him about the military or about his Avengers work (or even, in one case, his own penchant for drawing).

But it was over now, Steve reminded himself, letting out another sigh as he trudged out of the elevator. He blinked once he realized that he wasn't on his personal floor.

Glancing up at the ceiling (Stark made fun of him for doing that, but he couldn't help it – he was adjusting one thing at a time), Steve asked, "Jarvis, why didn't the elevator go to my floor?"

Jarvis answered immediately, "Sir asked me to bring you and any others returning from the conference to the communal floor so you may grab some of the food Sir had catered before returning to your room."

Steve's heart warmed at the niceness of the gesture. As much as Stark liked to claim that he was heartless, he really wasn't. Moments like this really made that hit home for Steve. After thanking Jarvis for the information, Steve wandered into the kitchen, rubbing idly at his neck.

His jaw dropped open and he stopped in his tracks when he saw the sheer amount of food in the kitchen. That was… that was insane! How many people did Stark think he was feeding? A sudden loud growl came from Steve's stomach startling him. With a blush, Steve remembered that he hadn't eaten since breakfast, some eight hours before. Maybe Stark was on the right track, getting this much food. Steve certainly felt like he could demolish half of it.

The only problem was that he didn't particularly want to eat on the common floor. He'd spent the entire day being forced to interact with people. The last thing he wanted to do was interact with _more_ people. But he also really didn't want to go back and forth between his floor and this floor to transfer all the food he wanted. Super soldier or not, he'd spent way too much of his day standing to bother with that much effort.

This left him with a conundrum, though.

For a moment, Steve just stood there, wondering how to fix his predicament. He sighed, shifting again on his aching feet, causing his shield to rub against his back.

Wait.

His shield.

Steve's cheeks darkened at the thought of using his shield as an enormous plate. That would be ridiculous, wouldn't it? Steve already got mocked enough for the rest of the things he used the shield for. Surely, he wouldn't open himself up for more mocking.

Then again, he was the only one in the tower. Stark and Banner were at the conference, Thor was on Asgard, and Clint and Natasha were visiting someone outside of town apparently. No one but Jarvis would see him, and Jarvis was good about not judging and not snitching.

Resigning himself to his own laziness, Steve set his shield on the counter and started loading it up with various snacks and treats and sandwiches. This was going to be great. Just what he needed to end a day off.

Steve was so entranced with alternating between stacking food onto his makeshift plate and eating food off of said makeshift plate that he didn't even notice the elevator coming up to the floor or letting someone off. The first time he realized that there was someone else in the room with him, it was because Bruce mumbled, "I love going to those conventions and seeing those kids thrive, but they really wear me out. Tony said that there were snacks for me to have before I have to go back, though."

Steve froze, hunched possessively over his plate of food. He could feel himself going red again. At his lack of reply, Bruce glanced up, freezing as well when he noticed the state Steve was in. For a moment, the two of them just stared at each other, not sure what to stay next. Finally, Bruce cleared his throat awkwardly, asking, "Are you, uh, using your shield as a plate?"

"Yes," Steve answered with as much dignity as he could manage.

Bruce grimaced, "You've killed people with that shield. No matter how thoroughly you clean it up afterwards, all I can imagine is people blood and Chitauri guts on your shield getting onto your food. Gross." He grabbed a few snacks, stuck them in his pockets, and then walked back out of the room.

He left Steve frozen there, trying desperately to forget everything Bruce had just said about the places his plate – his _shield_ – had been.


	6. Chapter 6

Steve grunted when another robot thing took a swipe at him. These buggers were strong, stronger than any of them had expected.

When the Avengers had gotten the news that there were evil semi-sentient robots swarming a children's hospital, they'd been disgusted but not overly concerned. Whoever this piece of trash was, he was cowardly enough to attack a _children's hospital_. He surely wasn't going to be much of a fight.

Except, he _had_ been a fight. A big fight. With really hard to destroy robots. And an entire hospital full of children as hostages. Why on earth had this man decided to target this place? What sort of purpose could he have had?

And then, to make matters worse, the reporters were swarming the place, clearly unconcerned about the mortal danger they found themselves in. Steve had to worry about stopping the robots, rescuing the children, _and_ protecting the reporters. And, sure, Steve believed in freedom of the press and all that, but this was something different. Couldn't they have just sent in drones? People had those things nowadays. Wouldn't that have been easier? Of course, Steve couldn't be certain that any of the flyers/Clint wouldn't have destroyed the drones in fear of them being a part of the enemy's plan. Still, it was stupid how determined reporters were.

Dodging another almost-blow, Steve rolled to the ground, crouching on a piece of wood that had fallen. Narrowing his eyes at the surrounding areas and making sure he knew where his teammates were, Steve put a hand to his ear, activating his comms, "Tony! I need you to land on the back end of the wooden platform I'm standing on. Hit it as hard as you can! I'm going to see if I can get into the hospital that way, take away their advantage."

" _Rogers that_ ," Stark responded. Steve could _hear_ the smirk in his voice, and he hated it.

Moments later, Iron Man came streaking around a corner, _smashing_ onto the wooden platform as hard as he could. He stayed long enough to make sure that Steve's trajectory was true before flying off again. For Steve's part, he drew himself in, making himself as compact as possible. He pulled the shield so it was on his side. That side was angled so that when he hit the building, the force of the launch and his aim at the glass window would send him through the window and into the hospital. The shield would protect him from too many glass cuts. He really, really hoped that there weren't any children in the area he was jumping in. He was pretty sure there weren't based on earlier readings Stark had done on heat signatures in the building, but he'd have to wait and see.

Abruptly, Steve crashed through the window, shattering it and slamming into the ground. The impact jarred his arm, making him wince a little before he stood up, shaking out his arm and body. Cracking his neck, Steve went off to go save the children.

Thankfully, most of them had been evacuated before the robots could get too far. Unfortunately, there were six that had been unintentionally left behind. It was those six that Steve would be rescuing.

The walk down the hallways was silent, the only sound coming from the muffled explosions and crashes from outside the building. Steve was tempted to activate his comms, just to get enough noise to negate the creepiness of an empty hospital, but he resisted.

Suddenly, there was a sound in front of him. Racing forward, Steve skidded into the room, hands already held in a defensive position. He nearly growled when he saw the bad guy of the week holding a little boy with one arm, a bomb wrapped around the boy's waist. The other five children were on the floor, whimpering softly and sniffling. Steve noted with vague horror that the bomb had only a minute or so before it went off.

Thinking quickly, Steve ran forward as fast as he could, throwing his shield at the same time. It crunched into the man's nose, dropping him just as Steve reached the children. Steve grabbed the shield out of the air with one hand and steadying the child with the bomb with the other hand.

Taking a deep breath, Steve motioned the other children backwards, relieved when they all obeyed immediately. Steve made quick work of the straps around the boy's chest, gently removing the bomb. Steve nodded to the rest of the kids, indicating that he should go with them.

With the kids out of the way, Steve could finally get rid of the bomb. He was pretty sure that it was a relatively small bomb based on his knowledge of the subject and the appearance of the bomb, but he wasn't entirely certain. Hopefully there would be an open spot in front of the hospital that he could throw it.

When Steve reached the window to look out, however, he realized that there were news reporters with their cameras angled directly into the room him and the children were in. Were they serious? Didn't they realize how dangerous it was to get that close? Steve couldn't throw the bomb anymore, not with them so close.

Resisting the urge to swear, Steve yelled to the kids, "Get out of the room! Go to the next room over!" He didn't have time to do anything about the unconscious perpetrator, but that was hardly his biggest concern at the moment.

After taking another moment to make sure that there was nothing else he could do, Steve dropped the bomb on the ground before quickly covering it with his shield.

He barely got the bomb covered, his body slammed on the shield to weigh it down, before the bomb went off. The explosion jarred his bones again, almost sending him and the shield flying off. Luckily, they managed to contain it. The only problem? They weren't on the ground floor. Steve groaned when he realized that his biggest concern was coming true: the explosion shot through the floor and broke it. With a short yelp, Captain America fell through the floor, smashing into the ground below.

It was a long moment before Steve felt like he could stand up. He groaned as he stood, bones feeling like they were rearranging himself under his skin. Yikes.

As he stood, reporters flooded into the room, seemingly uncaring about the destabilized roof. At least the battle appeared to be over outside as most of the Avengers settled behind the reporters. The little kids crept down the stairs, lead by Natasha (how did she even get up there? When did she get up there?).

Relieved that the battle was over, Steve turned to face the approaching horde of reporters. Within seconds, they were in his face, microphones jostling for room in front of him. Finally, someone won the internal battle, smoothing out her skirt as the rest fell sullenly behind her. She stuffed her microphone into Steve's face, stating clearly and loudly, "Captain America, that was the single bravest thing I have ever seen. Truly, there is no one more worthy of the honor of using that shield than you are."

The public, watching this from the safety of their homes, never quite could say why all of the Avengers started bursting out laughing at that comment.


End file.
